Justin Morneau, who has been out of the Twins lineup since July 7 after suffering a concussion at Toronto when he took a knee to his head sliding into second base, said Sunday his goal is still to play before the end of the season.

"Very, very, it's real tough," the first baseman said. "It's unpredictable, so that's been the tough part. You never know how each day is going to go, but it's been getting better slowly, so hopefully I'll be back before the year's over."

Morneau was having an incredible season at the time of the injury, hitting .345 with 18 homers and 56 RBI. But the season is now in its final month and he remains on the disabled list.

"I mean, [returning this year is] the goal," he said. "I'm staying positive and hopefully the boys keep playing well and hopefully we'll get back out there before the year is over. That's the plan."

As many football and hockey players can attest to, it's a much different problem trying to recover from a concussion than it is with an injury such as the back problem Morneau had last September that sidelined him for the end of the 2009 season.

"Last year, we knew what to expect, we knew it was shut down for the year, we knew if we let it recover it was going to recover," Morneau said. "This is a little different; it's a little more unpredictable. The goal is to come back this year and play this year, it's just a different situation than it was last year."

Asked if he was still getting headaches as a result of the concussion, Morneau said: "Yeah, yeah, every once in a while. There's just good days and bad days. So, it's, we're waiting until they're all good days before we can get back out there."

But he and the doctors are confident he will recover.

"It's just with these things you never know," he said. "It could be a couple weeks, it could be a couple months. Hopefully it's shorter than longer, but the organization has handled it really well. Billy [Smith, Twins general manager] and the trainers and everyone, they've been very patient and that's been helpful."

About his conditioning, Morneau said he has been running this week and is trying to get his legs back. "I've got to get back in shape while I still recover," he said.

No Twins minor league teams will make the postseason, but Morneau said he could rehabilitate in the instructional league that begins Sept. 16.

"If I need to get down there and get some at-bats I'll be able to go down there," he said. "It won't be a game, it'll be the instructional league so I can get nine at-bats if I want or go down there and do whatever I need to do. So we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but there will be somewhere for me to play."

As we watched the old-timers game and conversed, you couldn't help but feel for Morneau, who not only is a great baseball player but a real class act. To be in the position he is in, not being able to play the game he loves and not knowing how soon he will be able to return, has to be very tough.

Blackburn comes back Twins righthander Nick Blackburn is 2-1 with a 2.38 ERA in his three starts since being recalled from his midseason demotion to Class AAA Rochester, after he held Texas to two runs in seven innings Sunday in a 6-5 victory.

Blackburn said that in the minor leagues he found what he needed to do to be successful. "We just got my mechanics back to where they needed to be and where they used to be," he said. "The ball started coming out of my hand better and [I was] just able to control the strike zone better. It was something that [Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson] and I had worked on before.

"But I just think I had the opportunity to relax a little bit more once I got down there, and I think that just helped everything out. Just working on my legs, leading with my heel instead of trying to keep myself shut."

Blackburn had a really good May, going 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA in five starts, but he fell apart in June and July, when he went 1-6 with a 9.88 ERA in nine starts, leading first to being put in the bullpen and then to being demoted. "I fully expected it, and I was fine with it," he said. "I think a big part of going down there and getting everything fixed is having the right attitude towards it."

Jottings • With a ballpark being able to hold some 40,000-plus instead of the some 55,000 that could pack the Metrodome, Twins President Dave St. Peter said that a lot of Twins fans are not going to be able to get tickets for the postseason. Major League Baseball takes about 7,000 tickets, leaving about 33,000 to fans here. Already the Twins have a lot more postseason applications than they can take care of.

• It was a great weekend with many of the 50 greatest Twins players of all time at Target Field and the Legends Game being held Sunday. But my highlight of the weekend was the great Mudcat Grant singing "God Bless America." What a voice he has. I'm such a great admirer of the former Twins righthander, and the performance was something special to me.

• I don't believe Joe Nathan, sitting out this season after having Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery, will have to worry about losing his closer's job if he is healthy when the 2010 season starts. Matt Capps struggled Sunday, failing to retire all four batters he faced, but he got the save thanks to the interference call that ended the game. Capps has an impressive ERA of 2.57 for the season and 2.18 with the Twins, but he has given up 19 hits in 17 innings since being traded from Washington. Neither Capps nor Jon Rauch, who retired five batters Sunday but got tagged for two runs, has shown the form of Nathan in his prime.

• Texas manager Ron Washington, a Twins infielder from 1981 to '86, took part in the old-timers game.

• Ex-Twins shortstop Cristian Guzman, who left as a free agent for the Nationals in 2005, re-signed a two-year deal worth $16 million last year, then got traded to the Rangers in July. He had two hits Sunday, including one off Capps, his teammate earlier this year, but is hitting only .171 with one RBI since the trade.

• Greg Gagne, the great shortstop who was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame, said: "To be named with Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew and many other guys, it's certainly an honor and humbling."

• Al Newman, the ex-Twins infielder who played in the Legends Game, said after coaching the Apple Valley American Legion team for three years and being familiar with the kids, he is excited about becoming the baseball coach at Apple Valley High School. He will not teach as a part of his job.

• Our sympathy to the Jim Dutcher family. Marilyn Dutcher, wife of the former Gophers basketball coach, died this past week at age 77. She was a champion as a coach's wife.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com